


The River between our Bodies

by Martha



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-10-10
Updated: 2004-10-10
Packaged: 2017-10-08 20:56:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/79449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Martha/pseuds/Martha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p><a href="http://community.livejournal.com/stargate100/202287.html#cutid1">katie_m</a>, a generous spirit and marvelous writer, gave me permission to play in the mirror universe she envisioned in her drabble, <a href="http://community.livejournal.com/stargate100/202287.html#cutid1">Changes</a>.</p>
    </blockquote>





	The River between our Bodies

**Author's Note:**

> [katie_m](http://community.livejournal.com/stargate100/202287.html#cutid1), a generous spirit and marvelous writer, gave me permission to play in the mirror universe she envisioned in her drabble, [Changes](http://community.livejournal.com/stargate100/202287.html#cutid1).

The River Between Our Bodies

This had been the third time Sha'uri had seen her husband in three years. He'd been standing outside his tent, flanked by Jaffa, his robes stirred by the same wind fluttering the silk standards overhead.

Jack didn't spot him at all at first. All he saw was Sha'uri suddenly going rigid in the heat of battle and letting the nose of her of P-90 drop. Then she bolted to her feet, clumsily jamming another clip into her weapon as she ran, gouts of sand flying up on either side as Daniel's bodyguards fired at her. Jack shouted at her to get down, not expecting for a moment that she would follow those orders, not where Daniel was concerned. Since he couldn't leave his position behind the cannon, he bellowed at Teal'c and waved his arm in the direction of Daniel's tent.

Jack had been too far away to hear the single gunshot that followed.

The second time Sha'uri had seen Daniel, they had been on board Apophis' ship as it entered geosynchronous orbit around Earth. That time, Jack had shot Daniel five times at point blank range to keep him from killing Sha'uri with a hand device.

* * *

"Sir?" Jack looked up, and couldn't tell anything from Carter's posture or expression.

"Yes?"

"I think -- no, I _know_ Sha'uri would like you to be there."

This one was easy. Jack looked back at the computer screen. "Not my place, Major."

"Begging your pardon, sir, but yes it _is_. Sha'uri knows you're the reason we were able to keep looking all this time."

"Sha'uri's got stars in her eyes. It wasn't me, it was military intelligence and their wet dreams at the prospect of getting their grubby paws on Apophis' consort."

"That's not fair to yourself or to Sha'uri," Carter said, trying to school the anger out of her voice. She wasn't entirely successful.

Jack saved the report he was working on and closed the file before he turned back. "You're right. It isn't fair to Sha'uri."

* * *

The first time had been on Chulak, not even forty-eight hours after his abduction. Dressed like an Egyptian nobleman, Daniel stood straight and proud at Apophis' side. His glasses were gone, and he'd been barefoot, his face painted and a short linen kilt around his hips. The linen was so fine it was obvious he'd been shaved, though they had left the hair on his head. It gleamed like a helmet, oiled and more blond, Jack was sure, than it had been on Abydos just two days before.

None of them had really understood yet.

Sha'uri cried out and Jack leveled his gun at Apophis, only to see Daniel step forward to block Jack's shot with his own naked chest. Apophis put his hands on Daniel's shoulders and smiled as his Jaffa closed in on them.

"Behold," Apophis had said, as though there had been no interruption at all, at least none worth mentioning.

"Your queen."

* * *

They found Sha'uri sitting upright with her shoulders as straight as always. The woman had possessed a military posture long before she joined the SGC.

Sam spoke first. "Is it all right if we stay?"

She nodded without turning her head. It wasn't as though she had any privacy anyway, Jack thought. There were guards at the door as well as inside the room, not to mention Doc Fraiser and assorted nurses and techs. Carter went up to Sha'uri without hesitation and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder, and Sha'uri tilted her head to press her cheek for an instant to the back of Carter's hand. Jack followed more slowly, unhappy to be adding to the crowd gathered around Sha'uri at a moment like this.

It wasn't a sentiment Dr. Fraiser appeared to share, but then, that was just the doctor in her. Privacy didn't have anything to do with saving lives, and not much with letting them go either in her world. "Colonel," she said briskly. "I was just about to send you a message. I'm afraid the symbiote must have been more severely damaged during the extraction than we realized. Amaunet is dead."

Sha'uri finally turned her head, and when she saw Jack , she held out her free hand to him. Jack moved forward and took it, and she squeezed hard. "I am not sorry," she said.

"Can't say I'll be shedding any crocodile tears for that snake either," Jack agreed, and his heart was lightened by the sight of her quick smile.

"The problem, sir," Fraiser continued doggedly, "is that the NID is going to be furious. They didn't want us to proceed with the extraction in the first place."

"Fuck them," Sha'uri announced seriously. Then, after a pause, "_And_ the horse they rode in on."

"You tell 'em," Jack agreed. Carter laughed quietly and on the bed, Daniel opened his eyes. They were paler blue than Jack had remembered, and they roved over the faces gathered at his bedside seemingly without recognition. Jack wondered if he could see them at all without his glasses. Sha'uri was still holding on hard to Jack with one hand, her other hand curled around Daniel's open palm.

"My Daniel," she said in a strong voice. "You are free."

Daniel stared at her. His face was ghostly white.

"I'm sorry I had to shoot you," she said, and now her voice was a little unsteady. "Amaunet had a hand device, but Janet says with a few months of physical therapy --"

"Don't apologize," Daniel barked hoarsely. He pulled his hand out of Sha'uri's gentle grasp and covered his eyes with the back of his forearm, as though he could hide the tracks on both cheeks. "Please. I just need --" He gasped, the hand flung over his face clenching into fist. "Just a little _time_ \--"

"Of course," Sha'uri said, and now there were tears standing in her eyes too. It was the first Jack had seen her cry in three years. "We have all the time in the world now."

Daniel dropped his arm and looked up at his wife. "No," he said, his red-rimmed eyes bleak. "Time died with Amaunet. All I have left now is the rest of my life."

* * *

The river is between our bodies;  
The waters are mighty at flood-time.

From IIIa. A Collection, The Cairo Vase 1266 + 25218


End file.
